A Few Of My Favorite Things

In the past few weeks, we have had two times that it has snowed! We have really enjoyed them! Last time, Jason was still at work and the icy roads made his travel time a lot longer than normal. He did finally make it home and then we got to spend the next day together playing in the snow and having fun. It was a very dry snow that time, so it froze very quickly. We had a blast!

Then, yesterday evening/this morning it started snowing again! We were thrilled! This time, since Jason didn't have to go in to work all, we played in it and built a snowman. We tossed snow balls back and forth at each other. We just enjoyed our time while the snow was here. (It still is here!) :)

While the cold had set in outside, I was thinking about what I could make to fill a craving I had for something sweet. Last week I had made some banana muffins. Jason suggested I make some more. There was one problem... we were out of bananas! Well, no bananas, no banana muffins. But I knew that we had apples and carrots. Carrot cake is good. Apple muffins are good. How about putting them together and making something even better?! So I did. The banana bread recipe I used is from an Amish cookbook called Wow! This is Low Cholesterol and Sugar free and is super simple! I love that I can make it with just a few basic ingredients and that it doesn't require a lot of time. Jason specifically loves that it is a moist muffin with just the right texture... not too moist and flaky, not too dense and heavy.

To create this recipe I simply substituted 1 cup of a small apple, cubed and 1/2 cup of 1 medium carrot, grated for the mashed banana. I love this series of cookbooks! They use as many fresh ingredients as possible to create a wonderful, wholesome diet that nourishes their families as well as possible. There is another cookbook for creating allergy free dishes as well as one for baking sugar free desserts for those with blood sugar issues. If I could, I would have each one on my shelf to reference when I cook. :)

I hope others are enjoying the snow!

"Un" Cheesecake

Hello Everyone!

Last week we celebrated Father's Day and Jason's Birthday. One of his favorite desserts is cheesecake. I can eat some good cheesecake, also, but for him, it is the best dessert ever! Most cheesecake recipes have a lot of fat and sugar in them, so they don't fit into the ideal of what Jason needs to eat, but because there are two special days so close together, I wanted to make him something special. I wondered if there is some way to up the protein content of cheesecake. I found it!! I was so thrilled! Instead of using cream cheese, this cheesecake uses plain greek yogurt. It calls for sugar, but I substituted sucanat. Sucanat is unrefined crystallized cane juice. It doesn't bother Jason's blood-sugar levels like regular white or even brown sugars do.

I used this recipe from A Baking Girl. (I will include it below with the nutritional information) I think I may have whipped it too long in the food processor so it had a texture more like a custard than creamy cheese cake, but the flavor was amazing! It wasn't tart or too "greek" tasting. I want to try it again and see if I can make it creamier.

For on top, we had some fresh strawberries we purchased a couple weeks ago. Strawberries go out of season here just about 2 weeks before Jason's birthday, so I froze some. I simply washed them, sliced them and put them in freezer bags in the freezer. The day before, I took them out of the freezer and set them in the fridge to thaw. They created their own juice and were tender and sweet tasting on top of our cheesecake! Mmmm.... So very good! And no sugar added! Woo hoo!


Un-Cheesecake Recipe
(Thanks to A Baking Girl! Slightly adapted for our needs.)

**Please note that this is the exact recipe as found at A Baking Girl. I have made notes in italics that have helped me and I thought might help others. The changes I made to the recipe have been noted in italics**


2 cups fat free plain Greek yogurt1/2 cup sugar (I used sucanat instead....1:1 ratio)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean (seeds scraped out)
pinch of salt
1 T cornstarch
optional: sliced strawberries for garnish (I used frozen)

Preheat oven to 350F. In a blender or food processor, combine the eggs, sugar, yogurt and vanilla. Blend until smooth, then add cornstarch and pinch of salt and blend again. Pour filling into a 10 inch springform pan, and bake for 35 minutes. (I used a pie plate with some non-stick aluminum foil shaped to the pan. It worked just fine. I chose not to include a crust, though I am working on finding another crust that would work.)

When the cheesecake is done, it will still be jiggly in the center but will have a “done” look to it. The edges of the cake will start to pull away from the sides of the pan. Make sure you don’t overbake. It will continue to set up as it cools.

Let cool then chill for 2-3 hours in the fridge before releasing springform. (At this point, I turned the pie plate over and let the aluminum foil and cheesecake fall gently onto a plate. I then gently removed the foil. It stuck a few places, but generally came out beautifully!)

Arrange the sliced strawberries over top of the cooled cheesecake and serve. It will easily serve 8-10 people. This is a rather thin cheesecake at only about 1/2", but it is delicious and I didn't miss the extra thickness.

ENJOY!! :-) 

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 8
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 95.3

• Total Fat: 1.2 g
• Cholesterol: 46.5 mg
• Sodium: 44.2 mg
• Total Carbs: 11.8 g
• Dietary Fiber: 0.0 g
• Protein: 7.3 g

Alfredo, Healthy-fied (is that a word?) :-)

Welcome! Here is another of my Foodie Friday entries just for my own records. I hope you are enjoying seeing some of these as much as I am enjoying sharing them with other people!

One of my favorite dishes of all time is Spaghetti with Alfredo sauce. I think of it as comfort food! The only problem is that Jason's body can't handle Alfredo sauces that I would get out of the store or in restaurants. So I was searching for another way to use spaghetti one day and I found this recipe. I knew that some of the original ingredients might not work for Jason, but that I could tweak it to meet our needs. I was thrilled!

This is my variation of Rocco's Alfredo Sauce:

Prep. Time:  3 minutes      Cook Time: 20 minutes    Serves: 4 meal-sized portions

Ingredients:
1/2 pkg. whole grain thin spaghetti
salt

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. corn starch (or 2 Tbsp. flour, if you don't have corn starch)
1/2 cup low-sodium fat-free chicken broth 
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
2 cloves fresh crushed garlic (more if needed. I also substitute 1/2 Tbsp of garlic powder, and it tastes just as good!)
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated; plus more for on top
6-oz. plain greek yogurt

1. Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add the salt and the thin spaghetti. Boil until desired tenderness is reached, then drain the water off.
2. Meanwhile, put the oil and the corn starch in a pan over low heat. Stir continuously while adding the broth a little bit at a time, until a nice sauce consistency has been reached. (You can use more or less broth, as you need to.) Stir in the spices (add any others that you like! Sometimes I add diced onion. It just tastes great!) Add the cheese and mix until completely incorporated and melted. Remove sauce from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Fold in the yogurt until well incorporated. Dish up the spaghetti and spoon the alfredo sauce over top. Serve and enjoy!

What is your favorite pasta recipe?

According to the Spark People Recipe Calculator, this recipe has:

Calories		546.0
Total Fat		10.9 g
	Saturated Fat	5.2 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.4 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	4.7 g
Cholesterol		19.8 mg
Sodium		557.1 mg
Potassium		26.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate		6.5 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.0 g
	Sugars	1.9 g
Protein		15.3 g

Vitamin A	3.5 %
Vitamin B-12	5.8 %
Vitamin B-6	1.3 %
Vitamin C	0.0 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	3.1 %
Calcium	39.4 %
Copper	0.5 %
Folate	0.5 %
Iron	1.5 %
Magnesium	3.2 %
Manganese	0.3 %
Niacin	0.4 %
Pantothenic Acid	1.3 %
Phosphorus	20.2 %
Riboflavin	5.7 %
Selenium	9.4 %
Thiamin	0.8 %
Zinc	5.4 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Baking Soda In The Bathroom

Hello again!

Last Wednesday I shared how I clean the kitchen with baking soda and vinegar. Today I want to share the cleaning power in the bathroom. I love to use it in my tub/shower, sinks and even the toilets! It is a simple cleaner that I don't necessarily have to open all the windows to allow the fumes to escape.

Bathroom:

• Tub/Shower:  I sprinkle some baking soda in the bottom of the tub and wet it with vinegar. Allow it to fizz and then spread it around with a sponge or a rag. Sometimes, I scrub it a little bit, just for good measure. I leave it about 5 or 10 minutes and when I come back it is ready to rinse! I rinse it well with water and no water spots or rings remain! I like to also use this on the walls of my shower. It rinses clean and doesn't leave my walls feeling gritty. I put some baking soda on my sponge and use vinegar in a spray bottle to activate it. Scrub it around, then I rinse like normal. I give this a 98% on effectiveness.
• Sink: Same process as the tub, just on a smaller scale. I love the quickness and the simplicity of it. 
• On the faucets and mirror, I just rub a bit of the activated solution around, rinse thoroughly and dry with a dry towel. Works like a charm!
• Toilets: The toilets can be the trickiest part for me to clean. I flush the toilet when I first get in the bathroom, sprinkle baking soda on the tub and sink, then sprinkle the bowl of the toilet with some baking soda. I spray vinegar on the baking soda to activate it, spread it with a toilet bowl brush and let it sit about 10-15 minutes. I like to make certain all the dirt, germs and everything else are killed. :) Once that is done, I give it another scrub, use some of the solution on the seat and rim and rinse well. 

Now, that the kitchen and bathrooms are clean, I think I'll show you the powers of baking soda on carpets and soft surfaces next week. Have you all used baking soda, vinegar or any other natural products to clean your house? How have they worked? Do you have any tips or tricks or suggestions to make cleaning easier?

Baking Soda As A Kitchen Cleaner

Hello again everyone!

Last week I talked about using baking soda to deter ants from entering the house. Today I want to show some of the cleaning powers of baking soda. Like I said last week, I try to use more natural cleaners. I use them more because I don't want to endanger Jianna and the boy I babysit than any other reason. I feel like if I use cleaners that can be found in a kitchen cabinet, if the kids happen to ingest a little bit it won't harm them as much as some of the chemicals we used before we became parents.

So baking soda as a cleaner... hmm. does it work? I will only share the things that I know work from experience. I will also share how effective I believe it to be. I love to use baking soda in the kitchen, bathrooms and even on carpeted areas. Today, I'll share my favorite kitchen uses.

In the Kitchen

• Bake-ware/pots and pans: I make a baking soda paste with a little bit of water and a dot of dish detergent and spread it on burned/baked on food. Let it sit for at least 10-15 minutes, although an hour or even a day works well, too. :-) It may not work if the pot is completely scorched (like if you forget about the rice you're cooking - not once, but several different days - and the bottom becomes a completely black surface more than once. Yes, that really did happen to me.) :-) , but it works pretty well on things that would be rather difficult to get off without using a lot of elbow grease. I grade this one as 85% effective.
• Stove/Oven: For an oven that just needs a little bit of a touch up or on the stove top it works well. On an oven that has seen better days, it doesn't work so well. I think it still works, but it isn't as effective as a store-bought oven cleaner. Make a paste and rub it over the eye,  stove or oven surface. For the oven, I scrub the baking soda mix into the grimiest parts of the oven. Then, I pour just a bit of vinegar onto the baking soda mix to amp up the cleaning power. The chemical reaction between the vinegar and baking soda makes it bubble and fizz. Then, I let it sit for a while (normally on the oven 1 1/2-2 hours). At this point I scrub the oven some more and see how clean it is by using a sponge to sop up the extra. If it isn't clean enough for my tastes, I rinse and repeat until it is nice and clean. It leaves a streak-free shine! I would rate this as 90% effective on a lightly soiled oven and on just about any stove top. 
• Clean That Sink!: Again making a paste of water and soda, I use a sponge or wash cloth to scrub the sink. I add a bit of vinegar, and it is disinfected. I wipe down the faucet and fixtures and then I rinse it all. Shine up the faucet with a dry cloth, towel or paper towel and no water spots! This one comes out at 95% effective. An added benefit of this is that any baking soda that "happens" to fall down the drain will also help unclog your drain when the vinegar is poured down it! :) Double duty!

Well, that's how I use baking soda in the kitchen. Do you have any other uses for baking soda that you have tried? What is your favorite kitchen cleaner?

Running. Running? Running!!

Running is one of those things I never thought I would do. I was an awkward teen with legs too long and a wierd gate when I ran... Me?? Run?!? Not on your life! Then came that year... The one that I was 40 pounds over my target weight and I was walking to beat the band, but it just wasn't raising my heart-rate enough. Now what do I do? (*Note* I know that 40 pounds may not be a lot for some people, or it may be a huge amount for other people. This is just where I was.)

So I figured, well, I'll run from where I am to that sign. I did it! That felt great! Let's try from the next sign to that stand of trees. And that felt even better! I finished exercising that day in the same way and thought, "Well, now what? I guess you're a runner, after all." I thought I knew what I could do, but I didn't realize that I could do more than I dreamed.

I have continued to try to run. As I have worked on it, I have gotten to where I'm able to run a 10-12 minute per mile with a stroller instead of a 16 minute per mile walk/run without a stroller. It is my favorite form of exercise. I am able to get out and not think about what my house looks like, what I need to do for the rest of the day or anything else that might bother me. Running is my reset button... my "pause, pray, think, try again" button.

Is there something that you never thought you would be able to do that you were able to accomplish? Is there something you would like to try to accomplish that in the past you thought you couldn't do? What is your reset button for life?

Taste of Romania, Stuffed Peppers

We thought we would give those interested a chance to try some new things. Get a bit of a taste of Romania without ever leaving home. Every once in a while we'll add some recipes to our blog. They will be things that we've cooked and tried. The new dish that we tried just today was stuffed bell peppers. Try it! You just might like it! :D And, as we say here, "Pofta buna!" (Enjoy!)



Ingredients:

6-8 med. bell peppers, any color
1 sm. onion, diced
oil, for frying the onion
1 lb. ground meat (I used chicken, but you can use pork, beef, deer, whatever you have on hand)
1/2 cup rice
1 cup water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
parsley, to taste
dill, to taste
1 sm. can tomato paste
water, to make the paste thinner
salt to taste for the sauce

1. Wash and clean the peppers of their seeds by cutting a hole in the top and scraping out the seeds and insides..
2. Saute the onion in the oil until the color becomes almost transparent.
3. Mix the meat, onion, rice, salt, pepper, parsley, dill and water well.
4. Fill the peppers with the meat mix.
5. Place the filled peppers in a 9x13 pan.
6. Mix the water and tomato paste together.
7. Pour over the stuffed peppers until the peppers have about 1/2 - 1 inch sticking out above the water.
8. Cover well with aluminum foil.
9. Bake 40-50 minutes at 300-350* F. (Or until meat is cooked through)
10. Serve hot with sour cream, bread, as a tomato soup with the peppers as a side, etc.

Serves: 3-4